All Posts Tagged With: "Quebec student strikes"
‘Anarchopanda’ raises money to fight fines
Bylaw bans masks, requires itinerary for demonstrations
A philosophy professor who famously wore a panda costume to lighten the mood throughout last year’s Quebec student protests has found a new cause.
Anarchopanda, the unofficial mascot of the Quebec student strikes, has completed a fundraising campaign to contest fines levied against protesters in recent months.
More than $31,000 has been raised according to Anarchopanda — whose real identity is Julien Villeneuve, a philosophy professor at the College de Maisonneuve.
He became a local celebrity during the student strikes where, clad as the bamboo-munching bear, he peacefully marched with students, offered hugs to police, and spread the authority-resisting gospel of anarchism.
Although the strikes ended last year, the most committed core of protesters carried on this spring. First they fought the smaller tuition hikes introduced by the Parti Quebecois and, lately, have been contesting an alleged crackdown on civil liberties.
Major student group to skip Quebec summit
ASSE calls for protest on Feb. 26
Photo by Roger Lemoyne
Premier Pauline Marois says it’s too bad a major Quebec student union group will boycott the province’s much-touted summit on post-secondary education because it’s depriving itself of the right to be heard.
The more hardline ASSE group says it will skip the upcoming summit because the Parti Quebecois government has refused to consider the option of free university tuition.
Instead, group spokesman Jeremie Bedard-Wien says he’s calling for a large popular and student demonstration during the summit on Feb. 26.
Marois says she regrets the group’s decision and points out the event will discuss a variety of subjects, not just tuition fees.
From Quiet Revolution to not-so-quiet riot
Alex Ballingall reports on the Quebec student movement
Photo by Roger Lemoyne
For more than 12 weeks, tens of thousands of Quebec students have taken to the streets in anger and frustration. They’ve hurled slogans from worn-out vocal cords, sung and danced and taken their clothes off. Protesters threw stones, smashed windows and clashed with riot police, all in an effort to halt the government’s proposal to increase tuition $1,625 over the next five to seven years.
Students began walking out on their classes in February. More than three months later, the dispute has become the longest student strike in Quebec history. The stubborn persistence of the strike has left many in the rest of Canada scratching their heads over why there’s been such uproar. Even in Quebec, the intensity of the protests has puzzled observers.
